


Lost Love (Sweeter When It's Finally Found)

by dramaqueenminyard



Series: Fanfic February 2017 [21]
Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop & Tattoo Parlor, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Victorian Gothic, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-26
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:32:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9976871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dramaqueenminyard/pseuds/dramaqueenminyard
Summary: Nina and Inej in six different universes.





	1. High School

Inej looks over from her math work at Nina. The other girl is the center of attention, just like usual. She is sitting tall at their lunch table, recounting some story that seems to bring Matthias a lot of aggravation. She's telling it in such an engrossing way that a small group of students have gathered around her. They're all as entranced as Inej is, even though they show it a little more obviously. Nina catches Inej's eye and winks. Inej blushes and looks back down at her math work. She and Nina belong, more or less, to the same group of friends. The two have grown closer and closer, but Inej is still not used to the flirting. Inej finds a sticky note in her locker that says "Prom? xox" with a lipstick stain kiss on it. She tells Nina yes in person, and keeps the sticky note. They look fabulous in their prom dresses. Inej thinks that Nina has stolen the show, but Nina's eyes barely leave Inej for the whole night.


	2. Sailor/Mermaid

Inej has made a name for herself on the seas. She is the captain of her own ship, and that ship has saved countless lives. She can not brag in her own accomplishments, but she does find joy in them. Her ship has been through storm after storm and stayed true. Inej can say the same about her crew. The water parts way for a beautiful woman to reach the side of the ship. Inej has heard tales of these beings. Some are innocent and kind, young people who had drowned in the sea and were given a second chance. Others were cruel and had wicked intentions, young people with such cruel hearts that the sea had tried to keep them away from humanity. Inej thinks that this girl must be dangerous, whichever type she is. She has no legs, but a tale instead, and her teeth seem sharper than human. Her scales glitter in the sunlight like the treasures Inej left behind her and steadily sails away from. Nina is her name, and she is rather good at making people fall in love with her. Inej is no exception. She is an exception, however, in that usually, Nina doesn't love them back.


	3. Soulmates

Nina's fourth job this year is at a coffee shop. Mostly, it's hell. She'd expected some sort of peace, but after all, this is just retail. It's her last day on the job before she stops showing up and finds work somewhere else when the world bursts into color. She'd just been grabbing her coat off of the rack. Her eyes were making a final sweep of the shop that she wouldn't truly miss when her eyes caught the eyes of a girl. Suddenly, the world is more than black and white and the grays in between. She rushes over to the girl, and thinks, distantly, that this will probably end up on some touching soulmate compilation video if anyone is recording. She reaches the girl, and they're both thunderstruck, starting at the other girl with their mouths open.


	4. Victorian Gothic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> aka penny dreadful au

Inej is exactly the person Nina needs for this job. She worked for Kaz, which meant she is capable, she is religious, which surely means good things when facing a demon, and she seems very able to use those knives she carries around. She dresses differently from the girls Nina usually sees. Her clothes are loose and comfortable, no corset in sight. Her strings are not pulled tight by the other ladies in the building where Nina works, nor are they pulled tight by a society which says they should be. Nina is taken with her immediately. She has a good team, she thinks, looking at her thief and her sharpshooter and her soldier and her clever bomb maker. And her new addition. If anyone can face the devil himself, it's them. Nina has been haunted by this demon since she began her work as a witch. He has given her much (the power over the dead) but taken away much also (her free will.) He is to be destroyed, she tells Inej. Inej tells her, then I will destroy him. Nina doesn't doubt her for a second.


	5. Florist/Tattoo Artist

Inej isn't scared of needles, exactly. It just seems a bit unnecessary to use them when it isn't for a medical emergency, even for the sake of art. The tattoo shop across the road from her little flower shop is constantly bustling with business. She's only ever been in there once, to make a delivery to the girl who always orders. Nina. She knows them all, Nina, Matthias, and Jesper, mostly because her co-workers Wylan and Kaz are dating Jesper and getting into long winded arguments with Matthias, respectively. Nina comes into the shop only when Inej is working, and almost exclusively when Inej is the only one working. She makes small talk, and always buys something. She's good company. Inej sometimes wishes she would stick around longer than she does.   
"One day, Inej Ghafa, I'm gonna go buy you a whole truck full of roses."  
"And what would I buy you, Nina Zenik? A truck full of needles?"  
(A note for Nina: buying the girl you're taking out on a date a bouquet of roses isn't a surprise when she's the florist who you buy it from.)


	6. Space!

The planet hasn't had weather like this in years. The usual steady, suffocating heat it's orange tinted atmosphere produces subsides. There's even a bit of a chill in the breeze. Matthias is convinced that this is bad news. It means a storm is soon to come, he tells Nina. She tells him that no, it must mean that a change is soon to come. That change crash lands in her backyard a day later. A girl, about Nina's age, gracefully drops to the ground from her space ship. Nina observes the girl fussing with metal and gears and wires for a good five minutes. Nina offers her some tea. The girl startles, and turns to look at her. She's beautiful, even with the grease smudged across her forehead. She accepts the offer, and when Nina is done making it, makes an offer of her own. If Nina lets her ship stay where it crashed for a week or two, Inej will do any odd jobs that need fixing up around Nina's place. She's noticed one already, the jumble of metal and wires that used to be a functioning android. She seems eager to get her hands on that technology. For the next two weeks, Nina sits outside with Inej every evening and hands her wrenches and watches her work. The two swap stories back and forth, and Nina insists Inej come in for the night instead of sleeping in her ship. Inej promises her a ride once she gets it up and running. Before Nina knows it, the ship is in flying condition, and she's seeing Inej off. I'll miss you cluttering up my backyard with tools and this flying piece of junk, she teases. Inej promises to be back soon, with an empty seat just for Nina.

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: exysapphics


End file.
